Altman sounds more optimistic on Artis

Oregon coach Dana Altman said injured point guard Dominic Artis is "progressing" in his recovery from an injury to his left foot that has sidelined him for the past seven games.

"I’m not sure what his status will be Thursday (against Cal) or Saturday (against Stanford) but we sure would like to get him back," Altman said on the Pac-12 conference call for coaches Tuesday morning.

Altman also affirmed that Tony Woods has been cleared to play after the conference office reviewed the flagrant foul called on the UO senior in Saturday's game at Washington State. Woods was ejected from the game, but the conference could have added further punishment but deemed it not necessary, though there clearly was a warning given to Woods about his future conduct.

"We’re really disappointed in Tony’s action," Altman said. "He retaliated and he shouldn’t. have … (the officials) made the right call.

"There won’t be any further punishment other than he knows from our end he can’t do it again and he knows from the conference end it won’t be tolerated."

Bob Clark has covered Oregon basketball over a span of the past six head coaches, from Dick Harter to Dana Altman. He’s watched some of the biggest wins for the Ducks, a couple of trips to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament and yes, also the most-lopsided loss ever recorded in McArthur Court.